I was having a full mouth reconstruction done mostly of crowns but there were a couple of dental implants as well. When he did the temporaries, I felt pretty good about things. However, once the permanent ones were placed things felt off. I asked him not to bond them because of that but he said they are exactly the same as the temporaries that I already approved. I know I approved the others, but I am certain these are different. Many of the teeth, especially on the left side no longer touch each other and I’m having trouble with some of my jaw movements. The only thing he will do is grind down some of the crowns, which has only served to make things worse. I did go to see another dentist to get a second opinion. He seemed to be on my side until he asked me who the dentist was and then his tune changed. Now I feel like he is protecting his colleague instead of giving an honest assessment of the work. I’m left in pain and unable to eat properly.
Stu
Dear Stu,
The way teeth come together is called occlusion. It takes advanced training to do this well. Your dentist appears to be in over his head. Also, when you expressed concern and asked him not to bond them on, your dentist should have stopped then and there. You did not give consent. I don’t know why there was a difference between the provisionals and the permanent ones, but there was and he should have investigated that instead of putting your bite at risk.
The fact that you are having trouble with your jaw movements and several of your teeth are no longer occluding, tells me there is a serious problem. If it is not addressed, you are likely to end up with TMJ Disorder.
Getting a TRUE Second Opinion
I am not surprised that your second opinion dentist changed his tune once he heard the name of your dentist. The dental world is a small world and it is likely that they are friends. He likely felt he was in an awkward position and didn’t want to denigrate his friend’s work. To get a true unbiased opinion, you will need to make it a blind second opinion. Even if they ask you who did the work, be honest with them and say that you don’t want that to influence their diagnosis of the situation. You’d like a blind second opinion. However, I don’t want you to go just any dentist.
Instead, I would like you to look at a dentist with advanced TMJ training. There are three post-doctoral schools I would like you to look for in their training. Any one of these and they’ll be in a good position to diagnose your issue. You can generally find this type of training listed in their bio.
- The Dawson Academy
- The Las Vegas Institute of Advanced Dental Studies
- The Pankey Institute
I’m sorry this happened to you. When you get the second opinion in your favor, don’t ask for a refund. Ask for them to pay for the repairs with the dentist of your choosing and then go to the dentist with the advanced training.
This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.